Festival organizers are buying up nitrogen space from farmers in various places in the Netherlands to enable their festival to continue this summer. With this, they join the list of project developers, provinces and large companies such as Schiphol and FrieslandCampina, who also report for the emission rights of livestock farmers who stop their business. This is evident from research by NRC.
In this way, sixty thousand festival visitors can enjoy Stromae, Paolo Nutini and Fred Again this summer – three main acts of Down The Rabbit Hole this year. The four-day music festival received the necessary nature permit thanks to 45 cows – or rather, their absence. The festival can take place by taking over the nitrogen rights from a neighboring livestock farm, organizer Mojo and the province of Gelderland confirm.
In order to be able to organize these kinds of large festivals in the Groene Heuvels recreation area near Wijchen in the coming years, owner Leisurelands bought nitrogen space from one of the livestock farmers in the area. Mojo then leases the property. The festival grounds of Down The Rabbit Hole are located four kilometers from the nitrogen-sensitive Natura 2000 area Rijntakken, which means that nitrogen emissions from the festival must be compensated. This is only possible by taking over the emission rights of a company or barn in the vicinity.
In other places in the Netherlands, nitrogen space is also being bought up by festival organizations, or they are taking far-reaching measures to limit their own nitrogen precipitation on sensitive nature. For example, access routes and parking spaces will be moved in order to qualify for a nature permit.
Buying out as a last option
Not all festivals require a nature permit. If calculations can demonstrate that there are no adverse consequences for flora and fauna in nitrogen-sensitive Natura 2000 areas, an event permit from the municipality will suffice. However, many festivals take place in the countryside, where protected nature is never far away.
Until 2019, event organizations practically did not have to think about nitrogen, the precipitation was not large enough for provinces to call them to account. But due to two far-reaching nitrogen rulings from the Council of State, the organizations must include their nitrogen emissions in the construction and dismantling activities of their festival and they must apply for a nature permit if they emit too much nitrogen.
If more nitrogen is deposited by the festival than is permitted and if a calculation shows that effects on nature cannot be ruled out, the organizations must ‘salt’ – jargon for compensating for nitrogen precipitation. This can be done by buying nitrogen rights from neighboring farms or industry, although this is a time-consuming and often very expensive solution.
According to lawyer Martijn Diepenhorst, external netting (buying out) is usually the last option. “We always first look at what the organizers themselves can do to reduce their nitrogen emissions,” says Diepenhorst, who specializes in licensing for events. “There are all sorts of options for that. For example, you can discourage visitors from coming by car by placing the parking spaces further away from the festival site. We also see that festivals are increasingly working with electrical construction equipment during construction and dismantling, and that they use cleaner diesel generators and large batteries.”
Paper reality
If you delve into the mathematical possibilities of compensating for nitrogen precipitation as a festival yourself, you end up in a strange paper reality. Everything revolves around the ‘reference year’, in which a nearby nature reserve was declared a Natura 2000 area. The reference year is the upper limit: no more nitrogen emissions may be added per year than there was at that time.
For example, if there were cows or a factory on the surrounding land at the time, which will no longer be there in 2023, an organization can use that ‘reduction’ for its own nitrogen emissions.
Sometimes the procedure is relatively simple. The organization of the three-day hard dance festival Intents (30,000 visitors) received a nature permit in May last year by promising not to spread animal manure on the grass of the festival site in Oisterwijk and to halve the fertilization with artificial fertilizers – which results in less nitrogen .
The organization of the Black Cross required more calculations. In the permit for this, 2004 is the reference year, when the neighboring Korenburgerveen nature reserve was designated as a Natura 2000 area. In that year there was already a cross track, and another event was held: the Arrow Classic Rock festival. “That is no longer there, so we could continue to grow with those nitrogen rights,” explains Marcus ten Zijthoff of organizer De Feestfabriek. The Zwarte Cross is now the largest motocross event in Europe, with almost 230,000 visitors in four days. “If that event had not taken place in 2004, everything would have become a lot more difficult,” says Ten Zijthoff. What also makes a difference, he says, is that the combustion engines in cars and trucks are a lot cleaner than they were nineteen years ago.
Incidentally, the Zwarte Cross was not yet there with only Arrow’s emission rights. The construction and dismantling phase of the four-day festival, which lasts a month in total, was classified under the ‘building exemption’ until last year’s edition, so that nitrogen precipitation did not count. When, after a ruling by the Council of State at the end of last year, the exemption for nitrogen emissions in the construction industry lapsed, the organization had to look for a solution. And there is now, says Ten Zijthoff: “We are going to divert the supply route for day visitors for next year. For example, fewer cars will soon be driving along the nitrogen-sensitive Korenburgerveen, and that will yield immediate results,” he explains. “That will save us.”
At the Zwarte Cross they don’t think there is any more room for nitrogen. The organization is considering switching to a different fuel in the aggregates on site, which drastically reduces nitrogen emissions. The organization does keep buying out nearby farms open as an option.
Expand to 18 festival days
In the case of Down The Rabbit Hole, limiting emissions yourself was not an option because no similar festival was previously organized in Groene Heuvels. For the first edition in 2014, a notification in accordance with the Nitrogen Approach Program (PAS) was sufficient. When the Council of State canceled the PAS system in 2019, the festival’s nitrogen emissions had to be compensated.
Mojo approached livestock farmers in the immediate vicinity to see if they could do without nitrogen space. One of them agreed. It was agreed to leave a barn with 39 calves empty for a number of months. For nothing, as it turned out – the festival did not take place in 2020 due to the corona crisis. The farmer says by telephone that his barn is now full again.
For a permanent solution, Leisurelands, the company that manages various nature and recreation areas in Gelderland, bought nitrogen rights from another farmer in the area. Leisurelands wants to expand the number of events in Groene Heuvels and bought the rights for 99 head of cattle – 45 of which are cows for Down The Rabbit Hole. According to the permit granted, the remaining nitrogen space can be used for several multi-day festivals with fifteen thousand to sixty thousand visitors, up to a maximum of eighteen festival days per year.
It is difficult to estimate how many festival organizations buy nitrogen rights. A spokesman for the province of Gelderland confirms that a permit procedure is underway for one more dance festival that is trying to obtain nitrogen space by buying it from a sand extraction company. ID&T, a major event organizer of dance festivals, responded in writing to questions from NRC stating that sustainability is “an increasing focus for us” – but does not address whether it also buys nitrogen rights for holding festivals.
Based on his own practice, lawyer Martijn Diepenhorst estimates that it occurs relatively infrequently. Two months ago, Diepenhorst completed the purchase of nitrogen rights for a permit for one client. “We succeeded, the permit has now been granted.” The lawyer does not want to say which festival it is because the zoning plan is not yet irrevocable.